Computers are finding increasing acceptance as tools for creating, editing and presenting multimedia presentations. An early example of a tool that addressed some of these requirements is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,522 to Hernandez et al. This patent presented a technique for editing graphic objects in an interactive draw graphic system. A mixed text and graphic environment with a primitive ergonomic user interface was taught in this patent.
Another example of an improved graphical, computer interface is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,211 to Torres et al. This patent disclosed an ability to navigate rough a disk directory using a tree structure and directly invoke particular applications selected by a user.
Creating a salient still picture formed from a series of still frame pictures has also been discussed in, Teodosio, L. and Bender, W., Salient Stills From Video, Proc. of 45th Annual Imaging Science and Technology Conference, May, 1992. This article discussed techniques for forming an overview image of a scene from a series of still pictures.
There is no disclosure in the prior art that applicant is aware of that teaches the use of a detail window displaying a corresponding image selected from an overview image, or the ability to navigate through the overview image using the detail window to assist the user.